Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUSPENSION - FRONT - SPRINGS - COIL SPRINGS | |||||
| MI-731-2726 | 01/01/2010 | 10034466 | Saab: on certain vehicles, particles of gravel or stones may collect between the coil spring and the lower spring seat causing the spring to corrode. this corrosion may weaken the spring and in some cases, may cause the spring to break wh | 11/17/2010 | |
Investigations
| NHTSA ID | Manufacturer | Date open | Date close | Subject | Recall campaign | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUSPENSION - FRONT - SPRINGS - COIL SPRINGS | ||||||
| EA08026 | GENERAL MOTORS CORP. | 12/22/2008 | 06/04/2010 | Front Suspension Coil Spring Fracture | ||
| To date, odi is aware of 142 non-duplicative complaints related to the alleged defect.in addition, odi is aware of 2,626 subject vehicles with one or more warranty claims related to the alleged defect.in total, odi is aware of 2,714 unique subject vehicles that have experienced one or more front suspension coil spring fractures.odi is not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the alleged defect.the engineering design and testing data supplied by gm, along with the frequency of consumer complaints and warranty claims related to the alleged defect, tends to support the position that, in general, the coil springs that fractured on many subject vehicles did not achieve the expected service life.however, in regard to the subject vehicles, a front suspension coil spring fracture itself has little safety consequence, as evidenced by the minimal impact on vehicle ride and handling and by the number of drivers who were unaware of the failure condition for some time until alerted by service personnel.the ratio of tire punctures to coil spring fractures appears low and there are no reports of crashes, deaths or injuries related to the alleged defect. a safety-related defect has not been identified at this time and further use of agency resources does not appear to be warranted.accordingly, this investigation is closed.the closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by nhtsa that a safety-related defect does not exist.the agency will continue to monitor this issue and will take further action if warranted by the circumstances.see the ea08-026 engineering analysis closing report for more details. | ||||||
| PE08051 | GENERAL MOTORS CORP. | 08/28/2008 | 12/23/2008 | FRONT SUSPENSION COIL SPRING FRACTURE | ||
| On august 28, 2008, the office of defects investigation (odi) opened a preliminary evaluation (pe08-051) to investigate alleged front suspension coil spring fractures in certain model year (my) 2003-2004 saab 9-3 vehicles sold or registered in salt belt states.(note: for purposes of this investigation, the salt belt includes connecticut, delaware, the district of columbia, illinois, indiana, iowa, maine, maryland, massachusetts, michigan, minnesota, missouri, new hampshire, new jersey, new york, ohio, pennsylvania, rhode island, vermont, west virginia and wisconsin).subsequent analysis of data provided by general motors corp. (gm) has led the agency to expand the scope of this investigation to include all my 2003-2006 saab 9-3 vehicles sold or registered in salt belt states. to date, odi is aware of 53 non-duplicative complaints and/or field reports that allege coil spring fracture in the subject vehicles, including 23 alleging the fractured spring damaged a tire, with 16 of those involving a tire puncture.analysis of warranty data provided by gm identified 1,218 claims paid to repair subject vehicles that experienced the alleged defect, of which 138 vehicles also suffered damage to the adjacent tire and of those, 79 vehicles experienced a tire puncture.odi is not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the alleged defect. gm made several design changes to the coil springs and/or mcpherson strut assemblies used in the subject vehicles in an apparent effort to address the alleged defect condition.however, gm maintains that the subject vehicles remain well controlled in the event of tire puncture, that the rate of tire puncture incidents related to coil spring fractures is low, and that the alleged defect does not pose an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety.accordingly, this investigation has been upgraded to an engineering analysis (ea08-026) to further study the safety consequences of the alleged defect. | ||||||
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SUSPENSION | |||
| 04/06/2012 | 66489 | ||
| Front coil springs broke. service station had to remove front strut assemblies to replace broken front coil springs- install struts-clean affected surfaces and two new tires | |||
| 03/27/2012 | 78000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2005 saab 9-3. the contact stated that while driving 5 mph, the front passenger side suspension coil spring fractured and punctured the front passenger tire. the vehicle was not drivable and was towed to a local mechanic shop where the failure was confirmed. the dealer was contacted and advised that the parts needed for the repair were on a national back order and the dealer was unaware of when the parts would become available. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure who stated they were not sure when the parts would become available and offered no further assistance. the failure mileage was 78,000. kmj | |||
| 03/27/2012 | 78000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2005 saab 9-3. the contact stated while driving 5 mph the right front suspension coil spring snapped and puncture the tire. the vehicle was not drivable and was towed to a mechanic shop. the mechanic inspected the vehicle and notice the coil spring that punctured the tire. the dealer was contacted who stated the parts are on national back order and does not have an arrival date. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was notified who stated they are not sure when the parts will be available due to the national back order. they offered no other assistance. the failure mileage was 78,000. mw | |||
| 03/22/2012 | 78000 | ||
| The front-right coil spring has broken (when turning 180 degree, at 3 or 5 mph); | |||
| 03/07/2012 | 42000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2005 saab 9-3. the contact stated that while driving approximately 25 mph, she heard a loud noise and the vehicle started to drive differently. the vehicle was taken straight to the dealer where they advised her that the front passenger side coil springs were fractured and needed to be repaired. the vehicle had not been repaired. the manufacturer was contacted and they advised her that they had issued an extended warranty but her vehicle was not one of the affected units that the warranty would cover. the failure and the current mileages were approximately 42,000. kmj | |||
| 03/07/2012 | 42000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2005 saab 9-3. the contact stated that while driving approximately 25 mph when she heard a loud noise and the vehicle started to drive differently. the vehicle was taken straight to a dealer and they advised her that the front passenger side coil springs had fractured and needed to be repaired. the vehicle had not been repaired. the manufacturer was contacted and they advised her that they had a extended warranty issued but her vehicle was not one of the effected units. the failure and current mileages were approximately 42,000. tb | |||
| 02/21/2012 | 77000 | ||
| A few weeks ago, i began to notice a clunking sound near front driver's side tire when going over bumps in the road. upon investigation this week, i could see that the coil spring was broken right through the metal. i had never hears of anything like that. mileage is approximately 77,000. drove it to the mechanic, who confirmed that there is a broken spring. they informed me that, although the part is not expensive, there are none available, that this is a known defect, and the part is on a national backorder! i never rec'd any sort of notification from saab about this. the mechanic also said that i was incredibly lucky that the break didn't happen on the freeway, that it could have taken out the brand new front tire. i have a young daughter and i volunteer to drive other school kids on a weekly basis--this could have been catastrophic. until a new spring is found, i was told not to drive the car, that it could blow out the tire at any time. there is no eta on the new part. even though saab is bankrupt, there's a local dealer still in business, so i'm the wait list for the part with them as well. in the meantime, i'm stuck. | |||
| 01/10/2011 | 64000 | ||
| To whom this may be concerned: i just called saab corp and my local saab dealer, and they're acting like it's no big deal???? i think it's a very big deal and according to my personal non-saab mechanic, this could have been a life-threatening ordeal if the coil-spring would have broke at a higher speeds... it's just plain wrong that saab-corp is not making a bigger deal about this issue??? why??? any and all info will be appreciated. also i'm thinking about reporting this to my our local congressman and state senator?? thank you and safe-driving:: sincerely, ernest j. culp - national sales director national chemicals, inc. winona, mn usa 800-533-0027 toll-free 507-454-5640 main office 507-312-4747 mobile ernie@nationalchemicals.com www.nationalchemicals.com an american owned company since 1947 | |||
| 08/16/2009 | 70000 | 1 | |
| Normal driving. bottom six inches of front right strut coil spring just broke. i have never seen a coil spring just break before. this part is still on the car and i have the broken six inch semi-circular piece. it took almost three months before i discovered where a clicking sound was coming from in the front right suspension. *tr | |||
| SUSPENSION - FRONT | |||
| 04/06/2011 | 74155 | ||
| I have a 2005 saab 9-3 that became undriveable after the front left coils/springs broke, puncturing the front driver's side tire. the car was in motion when a popping sound was heard, followed by grinding and a burning rubber smell. at that point the car was not able to be driven. it was towed to a local repair shop and then to a saab dealership to complete the repairs because there is a campaign out for this issue, but not a recall. the springs/colils were replaced for free but the tire cost was prorated and the car required an alignment after the repairs which was not covered in the cost. this car had been in the dealer service department 2 weeks prior to this failure and the coils/springs were specifically checked due to the campaign. the service department determined that the parts did not show any sign of damage and so were not replaced. both tow truck drivers and the repair shop owner commented that i was lucky that this did not happen on the highway, considering how quickly it rendered the car undriveable and what could have happened had i been going at a fast rate of speed, surrounded by other cars. i am shocked that this issue is not a recall as it is a huge safety risk. | |||
| 03/06/2011 | 55662 | ||
| 2005 saab 9-3 driver's side front strut spring just broke. no warning, drove yesterday and car was fine, went to back out of garage and a terrible grinding, scraping noise occurred. discovered the spring broke and rubbing against tire. luckily this did not occur while driving at normal speeds. seems like it could have caused tire blow out and possibly an accident. | |||
| 12/23/2009 | 756464 | 1 | |
| 2005 saab 93 - front passenger coil broke and dug into tire. no warning indicated such as strange sounds or car handling differently. just suddenly broke near bottom of coil and the broken end of the coil dug into the tire. the tire has an indentation the goes completely around the inside. tire is damaged/dangerous now and needs to be replaced also. was driving slowly at the time so no personal injury. *tr | |||
| 01/23/2010 | 49700 | 1 | |
| The problem apparently occurred while driving down the freeway. i heard a loud clunk that sounded like i had hit something but there was nothing in the road. following that, every time i would drive over an irregularity in the road i would hear a clunk in the front passenger side. i took it to a local shop to find out what was making the noise and they discovered the broken right front coil spring. the sharp broken end was very close to rotating into the side of the tire which would have been catastrophic. i have the broken piece of the spring. i have also learned that this is a disturbingly common problem with this model of saab as i ran across a web site with many saab 9-3 owners that have experienced the same thing at roughly the same mileage i have which is 49700. my four year, 50,000 mile warranty recently expired. i just found out about the broken spring yesterday and have not yet had it repaired. i intend to contact the dealer tomorrow morning but i want your organization to be aware of this dangerous defect. *tr | |||
| 12/21/2009 | 38000 | 1 | |
| 2005 saab 9-3 arc, front right spring broke and destroyed front right tires. approximately 38k mile on vehicle. *tr | |||
| 12/07/2009 | 44500 | 1 | 03/28/2008 |
| My 2005 saab 93 44,500 miles. while driving to work on a six lane divided highway (i495) in the right travel lane the right front coil spring broke and shred the tire causing a blow out. the driver had never before experienced a tire blow out and was startled and jerked the steering wheel to the left in a moment of panic and the car began to slide sideways while scrubbing off speed. the car remained mostly in the right travel lane. there wasn't much traffic on the road at 5am and the car did not hit any other vehicles or objects. the driver regained control of the vehicle and pulled off the right shoulder of the road and got out of the vehicle to examine the damage. the right front tire was flat so the driver jacked the car up and removed the tire. immediately apparent was the broken coil spring. the driver did not want to spend the money for a tow truck. instead, the driver decided to install the temporary space saver spare tire and limp the car home by driving on the shoulder for about 10 minutes at 30mph with the hazard warning lights flashing. the car was parked in the driveway and another vehicle was driven to work. later a mechanic was hired to repair the vehicle where it was parked in the owner's driveway. both front coil springs and the damaged tire were replaced at a total cost of approximately $600. | |||
| 08/16/2009 | 70000 | 1 | |
| Normal driving. bottom six inches of front right strut coil spring just broke. i have never seen a coil spring just break before. this part is still on the car and i have the broken six inch semi-circular piece. it took almost three months before i discovered where a clicking sound was coming from in the front right suspension. *tr | |||
| 04/04/2009 | 58000 | 1 | |
| Broken front coil springs. *tr | |||
| 02/25/2009 | 48000 | ||
| Tl*the contact owns a 2005 saab 9-3. the contact stated that the front passenger side coil spring failed. while driving 45 mph, she heard a noise as her front passenger side tire blew out. the vehicle was pulled to the side of the road and towed to a repair shop. the manufacturer has not been notified. the contact called her insurance company. the failure mileage was 48,000. | |||
| 06/03/2008 | 56000 | 1 | |
| I have a 2005 saab 9-3 with 56,000 miles on it. recently i experienced a broken right front coil spring which poses a significant safety issue not limited to the potential for a shredded tire. luckily this issue was caught quickly and before causing an accident. the warranty on this vehicle lapsed at 50,000 miles and saab is unwilling to replace the part. after researching this issue i have found numerous reports of similar cases - some breakages happening at speed and shredding tires. similar issues can be found at: http://www.saabscene.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=31635698. *tr | |||